Eleven Pines Rd - El Dorado Nat Forest
Eleven Pines Rd is a hidden treasure buried deep in the Sierra Nevada. Easily passed over, this forgotten ribbon of pavement connects Mosquito Ridge Rd at French Meadows Reservoir with Wentworth Springs Rd, near Uncle Tom's Cabin, by plunging into the rugged Rubicon River Canyon.
While most riders know the much-loved roads on either end, few realize the history resting beneath their tires. The route traces a historic corridor first utilized by miners, packers, and early pioneers traveling through the untamed Rubicon country during California's Gold Rush.
In 1932, the U.S. Forest Service completed a suspension bridge across the Rubicon River, crossing one of the steepest canyons in the Sierra. However, the original structure met a dramatic end during the catastrophic floods of December 1964 and January 1965. Torrential, warm rainfall melted a massive winter snowpack, overtopping the Hell Hole Reservoir dam and sending a wall of water down the gorge that completely destroyed the historic one-lane suspension bridge.
Over the decades, Eleven Pines evolved into a remote Forest Service route supporting logging, firefighting, and access to the backcountry. The 2014 King Fire started near Pollock Pines, CA & burned nearly 100,000 acres of forest permanently transforming the surrounding timber landscape along the mid-section of this road opening up broad views especially along the Rubicon Canyon portion.
Eleven Pines Rd remains one of California's remote mountain motorcycle challenges. It's not fast, but it is endlessly twisty. It drops more than 1,400 vertical feet into the canyon, crosses the rebuilt modern bridge over the Rubicon River, and then climbs back toward Wentworth Springs through some of the most isolated scenery in the state.
It's not for everybody, and it is goaty in quite a few sections, especially on the north end near French Meadows Reservoir. But if you have the patience for backroad exploring, it creates a legendary, world-class loop when chained together with Mosquito Ridge and Wentworth Springs. Add in the ride up to Hell Hole Reservoir to extend the ride. Ride it southbound and then make the turn onto Wentworth Springs Rd and ride up to Ice House Rd back down to Highway 50.
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